Scientists Find Imperfections In 'Minibrains' That Raise Questions For Research

"Brain organoids, often called 'minibrains,' have changed the way scientists study human brain development and disorders like autism."

"But the cells in these organoids differ from those in an actual brain in some important ways, scientists reported Wednesday in the journal Nature."

"The finding suggests that scientists need to be cautious about extrapolating results found in organoids to people, says Dr. Arnold Kriegstein, a professor of neurology at the University of California, San Francisco."

"'It's far too early to start using organoids as examples of normal brain development because we just don't know how well they really represent what's going on in utero,' Kriegstein says."

"But Dr. Guo-Li Ming, a professor of neuroscience at the University of Pennsylvania who is not connected to the study, says she is 'not concerned too much' by the finding."

"'If we are careful enough we can still learn from brain organoids,' says Ming, who used the approach to help understand how Zika virus could affect the brains of babies in the womb."

"Brain organoids are clusters of lab-grown brain cells that assemble themselves into structures that look a lot like human brain tissue. The process by which these cells become specialized and begin to communicate resembles the development of a human brain in the months before birth."